Through a Mother's Eyes
by promisedblueskies
Summary: Following the events of the finale, Meredith King just wants to see her daughter happy again, and it's clear that can only happen with the help of an unexpected source. Watch the love story of Chloe and Alek unfold through her mother's eyes.
1. Candy Necklaces & Pixie Sticks

**Title:** Through a Mother's Eyes  
><strong>Author:<strong> promisedblueskies  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13/T  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> "The Nine Lives of Chloe King," Chloe/Alek  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Following the finale, all Meredith wants is for her daughter to be happy again, and it's clear that can only happen through an unlikely source. Watch the love story of Chloe & Alek develop through her mother's eyes.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> Spoilers through 1x10.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

Meredith prides herself on always having the answers for Chloe. She knows instinctively when something's wrong with her daughter, which is all the more impressive lately, since Chloe's not exactly letting her in. Meredith has friends with kids around Chloe's age, and they all tell her the same thing; it's a frustrating but totally normal part of being the parent of a teenager, to be on the outside looking in.

Nothing about it feels normal to Meredith, though.

She's with Whitley Rezza when he learns his son is dead, and all she can think of is rushing home to Chloe. She hopes she'll be the one to break the news to her, be able to hold her in her arms and assure her everything will be okay. But being a mom is a bit like having a superpower sometimes, and as Meredith gets closer to home, a lump forms in her throat, because she just _knows._ Chloe was with Brian when he died, she realizes, before she even sees her daughter's face.

Chloe doesn't let her hold her in her arms, and when Meredith tries to tell her everything will be alright, Chloe just looks at her like she's crazy. The distance grows with each passing day, and Meredith's barely able to get through to Chloe enough to convince her to take a shower. Her daughter's hurting, so a lot of Meredith's house rules fall away; she looks the other way when she notices Chloe's bedroom door is locked, and she bites her tongue when Chloe takes food back to the bedroom. Honestly, Meredith's just relieved she's eating at all.

There's no timetable for grief, all the self-help books she buys remind her. It's little consolation, though, when it's your daughter whose heart is broken into a million pieces. Meredith misses the days when all it took to heal Chloe's wounds was a kiss and a smile.

She takes times off from work. She tries to get Chloe to talk, of course, and when that fails, looks into therapy. But Chloe's unwilling, and Meredith's starting to think the entire summer will past this way. And then, just over a week after Brian's death, Alek Petrov appears at her front door.

He looks about as good as Chloe, and the dark circles under his eyes are testament to a lack of sleep. It seems like another lifetime when her concern for Chloe was that she was juggling two boys, but that comes to mind now, and she almost tells Alek now's not the time. But she hesitates, taking in Alek's bloodshot eyes and untamed hair, and tells him he can go up to Chloe's room, but God help him if the door's closed.

Even if Chloe doesn't react well to seeing him, any type of reaction is an improvement at this point, Meredith reasons.

Alek's upstairs for exactly an hour, a whole fifty-eight minutes longer than it had taken Chloe to kick her out. She's never been one to eavesdrop on her daughter before, but it takes all of Meredith's willpower not to, tonight.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

Alek comes by the next morning with a small bag. Meredith's relatively sure he wouldn't actually be trying to smuggle alcohol upstairs, but she uses that as an excuse to check the bag's contents, anyway. It's full of candy necklaces and Mike and Ikes and pixie sticks, all of Chloe's favorites from when she was a kid.

Meredith gives him a warm smile and sends him upstairs. This time, his visit lasts a bit longer. Alek forgets and closes the bedroom door, but when Meredith reaches it, she hears Chloe crying. It's a pretty desperate state of affairs when her daughter's tears make her smile, but it's progress. Sometimes a good cry is the best medicine.

When Alek leaves, he passes the bag he'd arrived with to Meredith, offering her a small shrug. "I've heard pixie sticks can really cheer you up," he tells her, and Meredith doesn't realize until he's already left that he wasn't talking about Chloe.

By the end of the week, Meredith's pretty sure that she looks forward to Alek's visits more than Chloe does. Every morning when she awakes and remembers what's happened, her heart breaks all over again for Chloe, and Alek's visits provide a brief respite.

Friday's visit doesn't go well, though, and Alek's walking out of the stairs less than fifteen minutes after he arrived. "Hold on," Meredith says, reaching out to stop Alek before he reaches the door. "What happened?"

If Chloe were up for talking, Meredith knows she'd complain that it was none of her business. But this is her daughter, goddammit, and that _makes_ it her business. Alek seems to realize that, too, because after initially tensing up, he relaxes a bit, slumping his shoulders and shaking his head.

"She didn't want to talk," he tells her simply, and gestures toward his head. "She made that clear by throwing a book at me. _David Copperfield,_ too, so she wasn't kidding." At Meredith's wince, he adds quickly, "She missed. I have good reflexes."

She raises an eyebrow at that, reminded of her curiosity concerning Alek. They don't make teenage boys like they used to, sure, but Meredith's been convinced that Alek is some sort of exception ever since that break-in. Even if teenage boys are stronger now than they used to be, with all their special protein shakes and creatine mixes, she's fairly sure it takes something more to incapacitate three adults alone. Maybe it's just the added boost of adrenaline that comes from someone you care about being in danger, she muses now.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

After a couple weeks, Chloe's doing a bit better. She's still not talking to Meredith, but she leaves her room more often, and eats in front of the television sometimes. Meredith doesn't have to remind her to take a shower anymore, so she's mostly comfortable in returning to work.

Alek's visits become routine, and Meredith can be sure he'll arrive around 4:30 each day. It's always after she returns home from work, and he's gone before dinner's ready. Sometimes the visits last two hours, and sometimes significantly less.

It's after one of those shorter visits that Meredith stops Alek as he says his goodbyes. "Stay for dinner," she offers, studying his appearance. She's sure Chloe won't be down, since there definitely seems to be a correlation between the length of Alek's visits and how Chloe's night goes.

Alek's eyes dart to the door and back to Meredith, and she offers him a small smile. "It will be done soon," Meredith assures him, pressing it a bit. "I won't interrogate you. I promise." It's tempting, sure, but her motherly instincts are kicking in as she looks at Alek.

He's been her savior lately, the only reason Meredith's not out of her mind with worry about Chloe, and that's made it all too easy to overlook the signs of weakness in him. His eyes are still bloodshot and rimmed by dark circles. His hair is in need of a cut and he's looking thinner than usual. She can see him weighing the offer in his mind, and then he nods slowly, the promise of a home-cooked meal winning out.

Meredith gestures to the vegetables on the cutting board, telling him, "I'm just going to finish chopping these and then I'll put the steak on. You can watch TV or use the computer, if you'd like."

He hesitates, glancing at the cutting board, and then shrugs. "I'll help."

It quickly becomes clear that Alek's never prepared anything more complicated than macaroni and cheese in his life, but Meredith's patient, and she doesn't mind teaching him. It seems like the least she can do after everything he's done for her daughter.

Alek's surprisingly skilled at small talk, and they pass the time talking about the weather and the Giants and predicting how Cal will do in the Pac-12 this year. Meredith doesn't even realize it's just small talk until about ten minutes before the steak's ready, when she asks Alek about his accent.

He stiffens noticeably, and washes the cutting board even though it's already clean. "My parents adopted me when I was three, and brought me to England," he tells her, and there's something off in his voice.

Meredith's stumbled across something, and she's not really sure what, so she tries to keep her voice light and conversational so Alek doesn't get more flustered. "Oh. I thought Chloe said you lived with your cousin?"

Alek swallows, and there's something very deliberate in the way he keeps his eyes cast down toward the cutting board. "I did. She and my aunt were killed recently. Car accident."

If being a mom gives you superpowers, one of them is definitely being able to spot lies a mile away. Meredith frowns, troubled, but doesn't push it. "I'm sorry, Alek. I didn't realize."

He doesn't respond, leaving Meredith with her thoughts. She's fairly sure she remembers Chloe mentioning that his cousin was Jasmine, so it's odd that she hadn't heard about this before now. Jasmine was - _had been_, she mentally corrects – a new friend of Chloe's, so she doesn't understand why she wouldn't have mentioned it. Unless…

"Was this around the time Brian-?" She doesn't finish the question, letting its ending hang between them.

"Same night," Alek says quietly.

Meredith wasn't expecting that, and her eyebrows shoot up as she studies Alek's profile. She was already marveling at Alek's magnanimity, coming by daily to help Chloe in her grief for a boy who'd been his competition in life. But now, understanding the heaviness of heart with which he came, Meredith is in awe.

_He's in love with my baby_, she thinks, but keeps that to herself.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

The next morning, Meredith's surprised when she stumbles down the stairs in desperate need of coffee and finds Chloe sitting at the counter island, spooning cereal into her mouth. "You're up early," she says, not sure Chloe wants to talk.

Chloe glances up, the spoon freezing an inch or so from her mouth. "I haven't been to bed yet."

That makes more sense. Chloe's sleep schedule has been pretty much nonexistent since Brian died, and Meredith decided early on that if she was going to pick her battles, that wasn't going to be one of them. "Oh." She shovels fresh coffee grounds into the coffeemaker and adds water, turning it on before pushing her luck. "How are you feeling?"

It's like Chloe slips on a mask right in front of her, all expression falling from her face. "How do you _think?_" she asks, and starts to get up.

"Wait!" Meredith tries, but it doesn't work on Chloe as well as it's worked on Alek. Chloe barely slows her steps. "I won't bug you, okay? I just want to talk to you."

Chloe hesitates in the door frame, and turns to look at Meredith, still uneasy. But she stops, and that's enough to make Meredith hopeful.

Except she can't think of anything to talk about now that she has Chloe's attention. She has a million questions she wants to ask, but all of them will make Chloe run from the room regretting that she ever stopped. And then she thinks of the previous night's dinner. "I was thinking," she starts, as if it's something she's been considering longer than a split second. "How would you feel if Alek stayed for dinner after his visits? I don't think he's really eating much."

Just hearing Alek's name seems to ease Chloe's tension, and she shrugs. "Okay."

It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction, and Meredith tries for another. "Will you join us tonight, then? I'm thinking about making rigatoni."

Chloe shrugs again, and Meredith figures it's as close to a yes as she'll get. "Alek likes fettuccine," Chloe offers, and a smile spreads across Meredith's lips.

"Good to know."

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

All it takes is one dinner to remind Meredith that Alek's not truly on her side, except for the fact that they both want Chloe to feel better again. She's essentially the common enemy at the dinner, even though she doesn't do or say anything worthy of it.

They expect her to be pushy, Meredith realizes, and pretty much everything she says, Alek glances at Chloe first to see how she reacts. Meredith can't even be bothered by it, because it's oddly sweet, how the two seem to be completely on the same page.

It doesn't escape her notice, either, when Alek gazes upon Chloe with fondness, or the way Chloe's shoulders slump and the tension seeps away when Alek speaks. They speak for each other, too, Chloe answering the questions Meredith directs at Alek when his mouth is full, and Alek answering those posed to Chloe that she just doesn't bother to respond to.

They're already a couple, Meredith thinks, and they just haven't realized it yet.

They make plans for pizza the following night before Alek leaves, and Chloe hangs back. She clears the dishes, unasked, and Meredith watches her from across the room.

"Mom," Chloe says as she finishes, setting the last plate in the strainer and spinning around to look at Meredith. "Thank you. That was… nice."

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

After that first dinner, Chloe starts to come out of her shell a bit more. She's up early the next morning (and insists she did indeed sleep at Meredith's questioning look) and has started the coffee by the time Meredith comes downstairs. She even suggests they make their pizza on English muffins that night, like when she was little.

Alek draws a smile from Chloe that night, after insisting he'd put the English muffins in the oven himself so he could spell her name out in mozzarella.

The next night, Meredith pushes her luck and suggests they go out to eat, and it's her turn to smile when Chloe doesn't shoot her down. They eat at The Cheesecake Factory, and the kids enjoy their cheesecake so much that Meredith buys one of the ten inch cakes from the bakery for future desserts.

The dinners become such a staple of Meredith's day that she's surprised the first time Alek can't make one after over a month. She asks Chloe about it, and her eyes go wide before she explains vaguely that Alek has more responsibilities now, since his aunt died.

It occurs to Meredith, not for the first time, to inquire about where Alek's living. In the past, she's kept the question to herself, because Alek's clearly not comfortable talking about himself and Chloe would shut down when forced to talk about anything more involved than the weather. But things have improved substantially with Chloe, so she tries again.

Chloe's reluctant to answer at first, but then reconsiders. "He's on his own," she tells Meredith. It's what Meredith expects, but her heart breaks for him all the same. He's just a child, really, and she can't imagine if Chloe were in that position at their age. Chloe reads the concern on Meredith's face, and bites her lip, looking suddenly apprehensive. "Do you think he could stay here?" she asks, voice hopeful.

Meredith frowns. She shouldn't even really consider it, she thinks, because there's clearly something between Alek and Chloe and their mix of teenage hormones and vulnerability surely can't end well. It would be like throwing a lit match next to a container of gasoline, and just hoping that there aren't any spills and the plastic is enough to keep the two separated. It's such a bad idea, but…

Chloe seems to sense Meredith is wavering, so she adds quickly, "I think he's given up on someone being there for him. His birth parents died when he was little, and then his adoptive parents gave up on him, and now with Jasmine and Valentina gone…" She trails off with a shrug, looking up innocently at Meredith.

And then there's that. Meredith sighs, and runs a hand through her hair, thinking about how Alek's been there for Chloe in a way she hasn't been able to. About how he's still just a kid – and one she knows can't cook – on his own. About how he's far too close on giving up on the world, and for good reason.

"Fine," she tells Chloe after a minute, "But he's not allowed in your bedroom when I'm not home or when I'm asleep. And the door has to stay open, _always._"

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

Alek's begun sticking around after dinner by now to help with the dishes, and Meredith and Chloe devise a plan before he arrives. It's an offer Meredith needs to make on her own, so Chloe excuses herself after dinner to shower, and Meredith follows Alek over to the sink with the dishes.

He washes and she dries, making casual conversation for a minute before getting to the point. "Alek, Chloe and I were talking the other day, and we want you to stay here for a bit."

Alek freezes, setting the cup he's washing down in the sink and turning to look at Meredith, eyes wide.

He opens his mouth to protest, so Meredith continues quickly, "Chloe told me you've been living on your own, and I don't think that's right. I don't want to call social services, though, because that never seems to turn out well, and you're already like a son to me." It's true, she realizes as she says it. "I'm not saying it should be permanent, but please. It would give Chloe – _and_ me – peace of mind to know you're here and safe."

Alek's quiet for a minute, and he picks up the cup he'd put down a minute earlier and starts scrubbing its side. "Okay," he finally says, and Meredith lets out a sigh of relief. "But only until I find my own place."

She can't imagine how odd it's been for him, living in a place filled with memories of loved ones he just lost, alone with their ghosts. "Until _we_ find you a place," she corrects with a small smile. "Preferably somewhere with an adult."

It's both a practical and a maternal concern; Alek's still a minor and needs adult supervision, even if he doesn't understand that. Plus, Meredith's sure something will eventually happen between Alek and Chloe, even if they don't see it yet themselves, and it's better if he's out of her house by then.

"I already told Chloe, but we're going to have some pretty strict rules. You can't be in her bedroom when I'm not here and conscious to supervise you two, and we'll work something out with showering. She'll shower at night and you in the morning or vice versa. Something like that?" Handing him the dish towel, she takes a couple steps backward, and tells him, "I'll go make up the couch for you."

"Ms. King?" She's already out the door, and his voice is so soft she barely hears.

She pokes her head back into the room, and smiles warmly. "I think you can call me Meredith now, Alek."

He nods, meeting her gaze. "Meredith, then… thank you."

.

.


	2. Love & Masochism

**Author's Note:** Your reviews mean a great deal to me. Characterization and pace are two of my big concerns with this piece, especially since it's from the perspective of someone who isn't really a huge player and aware of everything going on, so it was really encouraging to hear that you guys liked it. This part will be a bit faster paced due to the limitations of Meredith's gaze, but I hope it's still enjoyable for you.

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><p>.<p>

Four days pass before Meredith realizes she should've put a bit more thought into her house rules. She comes downstairs one morning, begins to brew her coffee, and peeks into the living room to check on Alek while she waits for the coffee to be ready. She freezes at what she sees.

Long, flaxen hair splayed over Alek's shoulder, her slumbering daughter pressed right up against him. They're asleep under a blanket on the couch, Alek's arm resting over Chloe's waist and his face against her shoulder. The television's still on from the previous night.

She studies them for a minute, looking for any signs of wrongdoing, but finds nothing. Chloe's hair only appears to be disheveled by sleep, and she can see the straps of Chloe's pajama top still over her shoulders. And maybe it's a bit silly, but she's come to trust Alek enough to believe he wouldn't do anything in her home, even if he _is_ a teenage boy.

She clears her throat a couple times until they stir. Alek awakens first, and Meredith can't help but soften when, in the few seconds before he notices her, he smiles as he glances down at Chloe. Then he sees her, and the smile falls off his face. He nudges Chloe, waking her.

Chloe bolts up from the couch when she notices Meredith, her cheeks turning pink. Meredith rolls her eyes and points a thumb over her shoulder. "Chloe. Shower. We've got an early start today." Alek mentioned the other night he'd never actually visited Alcatraz, so she bought three tickets for a tour.

Alek sits up after Chloe's left the room, scratching his head and glancing up at Meredith. "I'm sorry, Meredith. We were watching TV and I must've fallen asleep."

"Apparently," Meredith responds, and sighs. "It's alright. We'll talk about it later, and add a new house rule."

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

Meredith's job pays decently enough, but she normally has a pretty strict budget in place. The cost of living in San Francisco is high, and this year's been more draining than past, largely because of Chloe's new car.

That budget's been blown to hell lately, between having another mouth to feed, all the day trips, and eating out far more frequently. It's bonding time, though, and it's drawing Chloe out of her shell. She no longer looks like she's constantly on the brink of tears, and she even smiles or laughs occasionally at Alek's strange sense of humor, and Meredith really can't put a price tag on that.

So she picks up a few extra hours a couple nights a week, and life goes on, mostly. But tonight's different, the anniversary of her wedding to John, so she's feeling a bit cranky after a long day, both physically and emotionally. When she walks into the kitchen after a shower, Chloe and Alek are standing there.

"Hi?" she greets them suspiciously, glancing around the kitchen and trying to peek over their shoulders to see if there are char marks. They don't usually cook without her, and there's a reason for that.

"We thought we'd do the cooking tonight, Mom," Chloe tells her. "And the baking!"

Growing wary, Meredith demands, "Chloe, please tell me you aren't pregnant." She's only half-joking.

"_Mom!"_ Chloe winces and rolls her eyes, blushing furiously. Then, recovering a bit too fast for Meredith's liking, she changes tactics and crosses her arms over her chest. "Oh my God, how'd you guess? Alek and I weren't sure how to tell you, but you're gonna be a grandma!"

Alek's eyes go comically wide and he shakes his head vehemently. "She's lying-"

"There's no use hiding it, Alek-"

"Both of you, stop." Meredith groans, glancing between them. "Tell me what's really going on. Now. Please."

Chloe steps aside and gestures to a pot behind her. "We really did make dinner. Between you having to work late, and it being your wedding anniversary and everything… I don't know. We figured you could use the night off."

Meredith didn't really expect Chloe to remember. She feels like a weight's been lifted off her shoulders and she smiles, walking around the island to pull them both into a hug. "Best surprise ever," she tells them, and kisses Chloe and then Alek on the temple.

When she pulls away, Alek looks shocked by the affection, and Meredith finds that so very sad.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

The nights when Meredith stays late at work gradually start to outnumber the nights she's home on time, and she doesn't even really notice it's become the new norm until she arrives home around four one day and Chloe and Alek are actually surprised.

The surprise goes both ways, though, when Meredith takes in Chloe's sweaty appearance. Chloe's wearing the cotton pants Meredith had bought her for gym class the previous year, and Meredith's fairly confident she's only seen Chloe use them as pajamas before. Chloe's never exactly been a big fan of working out, especially since her metabolism is fast enough that she's never had to worry about fitting into her clothes.

"We just got back from a run," Alek offers, and Meredith redirects her gaze to him. There's an ugly scratch by his elbow, and a red burn-like abrasion over part of his forearm. He follows the gaze to the injury and shrugs. "Tripped over my own feet. Chloe already helped me clean out the dirt, though, so it should be fine."

Given Alek's athleticism, the admission of clumsiness is a bit unexpected, but Meredith doesn't have any reason to doubt his account. And truthfully, the more she thinks about it, the more it accounts for. The evidence has always been in front of her in the form of various small scratches and bruises, as well as ripped clothing.

"Well, alright," she responds reluctantly, not wanting to suffocate Alek in unnecessary concern. It's a more delicate balance then she expected, serving as the head of household to someone who's been as independent as Alek for so long. Even though she looks at him and sees a kid, she constantly needs to remind herself that that's not what _he_ sees when he looks in the mirror. "I have gauze and medical tape in my bathroom upstairs, if you want to cover that burn."

"That's probably a good idea," Chloe pipes in, looking as concerned as Meredith feels. "You don't want it to get infected or something, Alek. C'mon, I'll show you where it is."

Meredith watches as Chloe leads Alek upstairs, frown deepening. It's not a big deal, really, that Chloe's started to run with Alek, and it's technically probably good for her. But Meredith can't help worrying about _why_she's running, because the daughter she raised wouldn't suddenly change her life and her hobbies just to impress a boy.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

Meredith's in bed reading a couple nights later when the door opens. Chloe peers inside and gives her a little wave as she notices she's still awake, and comes to sit on the bed next to Meredith.

Meredith sets her book down, and turns to look at her daughter. She doesn't say anything, just waits.

She doesn't have to wait long. Chloe sighs, and snuggles into Meredith's side, bringing her head to rest on Meredith's shoulder. "I felt responsible," she says softly, "I still kind of do."

Meredith doesn't pretend she doesn't know what Chloe's talking about, and brings her arm around Chloe's back, pulling her closer before responding. "Oh, honey. Brian's death was a freak accident. Cardiac arrest, they said. No one could've prevented that. No one could've even known there was something wrong with his heart. He was so young…"

Chloe's quiet for a minute. "What if it wasn't cardiac arrest?" she finally asks softly, her eyes sweeping the room. She looks at the ceiling, the comforter, her own hands, anywhere but Meredith's face.

"What do you mean?" Meredith asks wearily, almost afraid to question it. Something's up with Chloe, she knows. She's not stupid.

"I- I kissed him," Chloe stutters out, like it's the worst thing in the world. "It's all my fault. He wouldn't have even been there if I'd been smarter, if I'd realized that it wasn't really dad sending those emails."

"Honey, no kiss is _really _heart-stopping," Meredith starts to joke, almost relieved that that's what Chloe's been struggling with, but falls silent as Chloe continues. She stiffens, fear overtaking her, a chill running down her spine. "What?" she asks, her voice thin and strangled.

Chloe bites her lip, and looks up guiltily. "I got this text, saying it was dad and to meet me at the theater, but it was a trap. And Brian… I think he knew something was up, but I wouldn't listen, and he followed me in, and there was-" She breaks off suddenly. "-This guy," she seems to decide on, and Meredith's sure it isn't the whole truth. "Not dad. He wanted to hurt me."

"Oh, honey," Meredith repeats, sick to her stomach as she imagines how afraid Chloe must've been. "I knew I should've investigated that more. I guess I wanted to believe so much..." It's a horrible feeling, realizing she let her daughter be led into danger like that. She should've done _something_. She should've forbade Chloe from exchanging emails with that man until she had concrete proof he was who he said he was. She should've contacted the service provider and had his location traced. She shouldn't have just _left_ it.

Chloe swallows, and lapses into silence for a moment. "Brian told me he'd give me a few minutes in the theater and if I didn't come right back out, he was gonna come in. And then…" She drifts off, staring up at the ceiling like she's trying to find the courage to finish.

"I get it," Meredith assures her, thinking about how horrible it must've been for Chloe. "It's not your fault, though. It's… that guy's fault, whoever he is. _You_ didn't kill Brian, Chloe. You can't take the blame for that." She wraps Chloe in her arms and kisses her forehead. It all makes sense now.

"That's not-" Chloe starts, but then breaks off suddenly, frowning. "Thanks, Mom. I really needed that."

Meredith smiles and rocks Chloe back and forth, like she used to when she was a baby. "And I really needed you to open up to me. I love you, Chloe."

"Imp-" Chloe starts, and Meredith is sure this is the first time ever she'd be relieved to hear _'implied.'_But Chloe seems to rethink it, and offers her a hesitant smile. "I love you, too."

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

Chloe's afternoon jogs with Alek start to make a lot more sense after that. The pieces fall into place completely a week or so later, when the two return home just In time to get washed up for dinner, and Alek has a shiner.

"What the heck happened to you?" Meredith asks, alarmed, and her heart's filled with fear as she immediately connects Alek's injury with Chloe's accounts of someone who wanted to harm her. Meredith had called the police the morning after Chloe's explanation, but they'd been less than helpful. They'd told her she could fill out a police report but there wasn't much to go on, and assured her that nine times out of ten in cases like this, an internet predator didn't stick around after the first sign of complications. She's a mother, though, so she agonizes over that other ten percent of the time, and the first thing that occurs to her now is that there's still some freak out there who wants to hurt her daughter.

Alek seems to have forgotten about the black eye entirely because he just stares at Meredith for a second in confusion. Then, remembering, he raises a hand to his brow, right above the bruising, and shrugs. "Oh, this? Chloe accidentally punched me."

It's the last thing she wants to hear, old fears rushing back to the surface. When John had taken Chloe back from the Ukraine with him and they'd started the process of adoption, a social worker had warned them that given the horrors Chloe had experienced at such a young age, she was at risk for a variety of mental disorders like oppositional defiant disorder. Every temper tantrum back then had been a cause for concern, but it's a fear that's mostly lapsed over the past decade, until now. For a brief moment, she's scared out of her mind that this attack in the theater has triggered something dark in Chloe, something Meredith won't know how to handle. "And how, exactly, do you accidentally punch someone?" she asks, trying to keep her voice calm as Chloe reenters the room, a couple water bottles in hand.

Chloe winces, either at the question or the swelling around Alek's eye, or maybe both. Alek shrugs and glances over at Chloe. There seems to be a question in his gaze, like he's seeking Chloe's permission to answer Meredith's question, and after Chloe shrugs her approval, he explains, "I've been trying to teach her to defend herself. It's no big deal; actually, it's a good thing that she managed to land a punch, considering I was supposed to be the bad guy."

Meredith breathes a sigh of relief, but her concern doesn't totally dissipate. "Maybe I should enroll you in a self-defense class," she suggests to Chloe, thinking about it. "I bet Cal has something like that."

Chloe looks uncomfortable at the prospect. "I don't know. Alek's already taught me a lot."

Meredith's about to protest, to point out that as much as Chloe's learned from Alek, there's still more she could learn from a qualified instructor, but then she remembers the night Alek took out three lowlife criminals while she and Chloe hid in a closet, and reconsiders. "Alright, as long as it makes you feel safer. But guys, seriously, tell me if there's any reason you think there's a real threat. I need to know so I can take care of that kind of thing."

Chloe and Alek glance at each other and then, in unison, back to Meredith, and nod. "We will," Alek promises, but it sounds a bit too insincere to actually be reassuring.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

By the middle of September, the tension between Chloe and Alek is starting to get on Meredith's nerves. She can't even count the number of times Chloe's broken off in mid-sentence, distracted, because Alek walked by, or the number of times she's seen Alek's eyes soften at Chloe merely entering the room.

Chloe insists they're just friends now whenever Meredith makes a pointed comment. When that's not enough to satisfy her, Chloe will roll her eyes and add, "And besides, Mom, a friend is all I can handle right now." After their talk about the night Brian died, Meredith can't really push it any further.

Meredith works so late one night that she has to text the kids and tell them they're on their own for dinner. By the time she gets home, they've already eaten, dirty dishes pushed to the side of the table, and they're working on their homework together.

They're sitting close together, and Chloe's leaning forward, trying to explain some math equation to Alek. Meredith's fairly certain that the finer details are lost on him, though, because Alek's gaze is focused not on the paper but on Chloe's profile.

Meredith sighs, wondering not for the first time if it's strange to push for her teenage daughter to have a boyfriend. Life's supposed to be less complicated when she doesn't have to worry about that, right?

She clears her throat, and both teens look up as she holds out a box of cupcakes. "I had a craving for sugar on my way home from work, and buying a whole box to share made me feel less guilty about it. Take your pick."

Alek reaches for the box with a thank you, but pushes it to Chloe so she can select first. Meredith resists the urge to roll her eyes. "What did you do for dinner?" she asks instead.

Chloe pulls out one of the cupcakes and glances at Meredith before refocusing her attention on the treat. "We found a chicken broccoli ziti recipe online and made that. There's a plate in the fridge for you."

Alek takes a cupcake, and the two start talking amongst themselves again, so Meredith bows out of the room and goes to eat.

When she comes back to check on them a bit later, they're back to working on homework. They don't notice her so she studies their interactions for a minute. Alek says something Meredith can't quite make out and Chloe glances up at him with a smile, laughs, and reaches up to wipe something – cupcake frosting? – off his face.

Chloe freezes, thumb at the corner of Alek's lips, and their eyes lock. They stare at each other for a few seconds, as if in a trance, and then Alek mumbles something and looks away, returning his focus to his homework.

Chloe looks shaken, and sits there for a few seconds longer before refocusing herself, and it's all Meredith can do to sigh and walk away.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

Any doubt Meredith has regarding Alek's feelings disappears the day he takes Chloe to visit Brian's grave. She pulls him aside before they leave because it's just a bit too ridiculous for her to ignore anymore, and offers to go in his stead. She might not have all the details about her daughter's romantic life, but she is pretty sure that Chloe essentially cheated on Alek with Brian. There seems to be a thin line between love and masochism with Alek, though.

Alek gives Meredith a curious look and shakes his head, glancing toward the door, which Chloe's already walked through to go start her car. "I'm her friend, and that's what she needs today."

"You're in love with her," Meredith protests before she can think it through and bite it back, and she instantly regrets it.

It takes Alek by surprise and he stares at her, opens his mouth to say something and closes it again. After a few seconds, he nods slowly, acknowledging, "I am, but that's not what she needs right now."

Meredith cocks her head to the side, not so sure. She doesn't need to complicate things any more than she already has by disagreeing, though, so instead she points out, "It's perfectly normal if you don't exactly want to watch Chloe go to grieve the other guy she was involved with, Alek. You can be her friend without being _there._"

Alek pauses, mulling it over. "It's funny," he finally says, his voice serious with the weight of realization. "I thought Brian was this obstacle when he was alive, like Chloe was some kind of competition." He shrugs, hesitates, like he realizes it's odd to be having this conversation with Chloe's mother, but then continues anyway. "But that night, when Chloe needed someone to protect her, he was the one who was there. I can't exactly hate him for that, can I?"

It's rhetorical, so Meredith just smiles sadly and gestures toward the door, knowing Alek will go anyway and oddly proud when he does.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

As September melts into October, Meredith picks up her search to find Alek a suitable place to live. Regardless of how insistent Chloe and Alek are that they're just friends and how hesitant either is to act on their attraction, Meredith's all too aware it's just a matter of time.

They're practically inseparable, and the lines between friendship and something more are already getting blurred. They'll watch a movie on the couch after dinner and start off sitting on opposite ends, but by the end of the movie Alek has an arm wrapped around Chloe's shoulders and she's burying her face against his chest at the scary parts. It's all the more obvious to Meredith because she's watched plenty of thrillers with Chloe, and she knows better than anyone that Chloe doesn't actually _get_ scared – especially at movies she's seen a hundred times.

It's after one such night that she mentions her dilemma to Karen, a friend from work. She's mainly looking for someone to convince her she's totally wrong about teenage boys all being driven by the same things at the end of the day, and Karen has two teenage sons of her own to base an opinion off of. But Karen just laughs and tells her she can't say anything of the sort, and Meredith's left to stew.

A couple days later, Karen approaches her during their lunch break and asks, "You said Alek's a good kid, right?" Meredith nods, so Karen continues, "I was thinking. Tommy's away at college now, and it's across the country so he'll only be back for vacations. I'd have to ask, but I really don't think he'd have a problem with Alek taking his room."

It's a perfectly acceptable solution, and Meredith's known Karen long enough that she's sure Karen would take good care of Alek. Still, she feels torn about watching Alek leave. She's gotten so used to having him around that it takes her a couple days to come to terms with it, and even then, she's keeping one foot out the door.

She invites Karen and her family to dinner, and mentally sets an impossible standard. At the first sign of discomfort, she thinks, the plan's off. Of course, Alek has never met Karen or her husband, and Karen sent both of her sons to a private high school. First meetings are always a little uncomfortable.

Those standards are quickly revised, though, when she comes home a couple hours before Karen's due over and finds her daughter pinned under Alek on the couch. Her jaw drops, and so does the travel mug in her hand.

"Mom," Chloe squeaks, and Alek rolls off of her so she's able to extricate herself from his grasp. "It's not what it looks like. Alek was just tickling me."

Alek sits back, surveying the situation like he's trying to figure out how much trouble he's in. "She insisted she's never ticklish, and I wanted to prove her wrong," he adds in explanation, looking distinctly like he was caught with his hand in the candy jar.

And the thing is, Meredith believes them. She knows, logically, that she shouldn't, and it's not something she should even bother to risk entertaining.

It's not even so much that she caught them in a compromising position, she realizes later that night, after she decides she'll have Karen take Alek, barring any major personality conflict. It's that at some point, she'll start making excuses _for_ them. 


	3. A Rock & A Hard Place

**Author's Note:** I'm in the path of Hurricane Irene. I'm far enough north that I'm not too concerned about getting hurt (fingers crossed), but there's a pretty good chance I'll lose my power. It might be a bit before I can update again, but either way, I'll be using some of the downtime to revise future chapters and work on another story I'll be posting soon.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

Meredith's not entirely sure what she was expecting when Alek moved out. If she was expecting drastic changes, she's dead wrong, though, because all that really changes is where Alek's sleeping. Occasionally, Chloe will go over to Karen's to see Alek, but most of the time, they're still here. It's not rare for Meredith to get in from work to find them working on their homework together or watching television.

She starts hosting Friday night dinners, inviting Karen's whole household. She finds it's a convenient way to ensure everything's going alright, and it strengthens her bond with Karen at the same time. She's not at all surprised to learn that Alek has adapted easily to life at Karen's, and Karen raves about how good an influence he is on her fifteen year old son, Greg.

Somewhere along the line, Meredith started to feel like Alek's her responsibility, so she sets aside money weekly to give to Karen for caring for him. Karen refuses to take it at first, but relents after she realizes Meredith's just piling up the cash, unused. Meredith's sure she made the right decision when she realizes Karen is spending the money on Alek, buying him new basketball gear and clothes.

He's working a part-time job, he tells them, although he's oddly vague about the details. Anyone else, and Meredith would be concerned it's something criminal, but Alek's already earned her trust. She figures it's more likely embarrassing, like having to dress up in a silly costume to advertise food. Regardless, though, she and Karen agree that he should be saving that money. They're both painfully aware that he's all too likely to fall through the cracks in the future, unless they're there to prevent it.

Maybe it's not fair, but Meredith starts wanting the same things for Alek that she wants for Chloe. She's not sure Alek's ever thought about college before, but she encourages him to attend college fairs and takes him along with Chloe for campus tours. If she has to help pay for it, then she'll find a way.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

Meredith and Karen slip into something resembling a co-parenting routine almost overnight. Karen's good with Alek, even better than Meredith could've expected, but she can't quite let go of her own grasp on the boy. She's so used to having him around that it's odd when he's not.

It's most evident in the mornings, when Meredith comes downstairs and there's not coffee already brewing, when she doesn't awaken to the sound of the shower running. Alek had taken to waking up earlier than Meredith and Chloe, pretty much ready for school by the time they even rolled out of bed.

Some mornings, he'd even have breakfast ready for them when they came downstairs, French toast or pancakes tasting better and looking a little less burnt every time he made them.

It's not actually the prepared breakfasts that Meredith misses, but the general pace of the mornings. Chloe had gotten up a bit earlier, too, more self-conscious about stumbling down the stairs in her pajamas with unbrushed hair when Alek was around.

The first morning when Chloe hasn't really allotted herself enough time to get ready for school so she has a hairbrush in one hand and a Fiber One bar in the other, Meredith realizes what she misses is the connection. With Alek here, they'd been more likely to actually sit around the table eating breakfast, exchanging stories about the previous day or sharing their strange dreams. And it's odd, how that works, because Meredith doesn't even consider Alek to be a particularly open person.

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

It's a bit like Alek's a puzzle piece she hadn't realized was missing. He's stunned, the first time he glances toward the bleachers during one of his basketball games and finds he has his own cheering section. She and Chloe go, of course, but so do Karen, Todd, and Greg.

Todd decides as the game nears an end that they should all go out for dinner after, and it's a good time. Meredith smiles at the camaraderie between Alek and Greg, and feels about ten times better about her decision when Todd offers to help Alek work on his jump shot.

Alek's move doesn't seem to have altered the connection between him and Chloe, either, and Meredith watches fondly when about halfway through the meal, the two teens exchange a look and wordlessly exchange plates.

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

The move happened just in time, Meredith thinks on a chilly afternoon in late October. Her realty company organizes a haunted house every Halloween, and Meredith always drags Chloe along to help decorate. Alek comes this year, too, and Meredith puts them both to work.

She checks in on them a while later and discovers them in the room that will serve as Dracula's tomb. They're supposed to be painting a casket, but Chloe's wielding the brush at Alek, and his shirt appears to have more of the black paint on it than the wooden box in front of them.

Meredith's about to reprimand Chloe for ruining Alek's outfit when he grins, grabbing a roller with one hand and wrapping the other around Chloe's waist. She shrieks and tries to get away, squirming in his grasp as he dangles the roller a few inches away from her. Paint drips to the floor but they've already laid down newspaper, so Meredith just watches instead of lecturing.

Chloe makes another desperate attempt to free herself from Alek's grasp. She squirms in his arms, facing away from him and lunging forward suddenly. It's enough to cause Alek to stumble, Chloe still in his arms. He corrects himself and yanks her back just as they're about to fall into the paint.

He lifts her clear off her feet and spins her around and away from the paint, and her laughter doesn't exactly seem like protestation.

"Oh my God, don't!" she's protesting between laughs when Alek sets her down but doesn't lower the roller, and Meredith hasn't heard her sound so happy in a long time.

When Alek rolls paint down the front of Chloe's shirt, Meredith can't even be upset, although she is relieved Chloe's just wearing an old Cal shirt of Meredith's that she's probably had for ten years.

She opens her mouth, about to make her presence known and warn them that's enough horseplay. As good as it is to hear those two laughing again, their chosen method of entertainment seems a bit too likely to end in Meredith repainting the walls of a million dollar model home.

But just as she's about to speak up, the smiles fall off Chloe and Alek's faces, and their eyes lock. Alek drops the hand holding the paint roller to his side and brings his other arm to wrap around the small of Chloe's back.

Meredith bites her lip, not entirely sure she should be witnessing this, but her feet seem firmly rooted to the ground. Chloe takes a step toward Alek and brings her hands up to rest on his shoulders. He lowers his head at the same time Chloe leans forward on her tiptoes, and Meredith finally backs away from the room just as their lips touch.

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

The kiss isn't something Meredith should've witnessed, so it puts her in the tough position of knowing about it but being unable to mention it to Chloe. She stews for a couple days over the predicament, a little hurt that Chloe doesn't see fit to tell her.

Halloween evening, Meredith gets home early so she has time to prepare for working the haunted house. She drew the role of mortician at work, which all things considered, is pretty lucky, requiring significantly less gruesome face makeup than some of her coworkers. She changes into scrubs and heads downstairs, pausing as she notices Chloe sitting on the couch. Chloe's hair is thrown back in a messy ponytail and she's wearing her pajamas, which is most unexpected.

"Chloe?" Meredith asks, leaning against the doorframe as she raises her brows at daughter. "I thought Alek was coming over tonight. What happened to the Friday the 13th marathon?" She'd been a little leery about leaving the two alone in the house for such a long time following the kiss, but now she's even more concerned.

Chloe's face falls as she glances up, and she shakes her head. "He's not coming," she says simply, but her voice is shaky, betraying her.

"What happened?" Meredith asks, genuinely confused. She walks into the living room and sits down on the couch next to Chloe, truly surprised. She'd always assumed that once Chloe and Alek figured it out, it would be smooth sailing from there. She hadn't even really entertained any other possibility.

Chloe frowns up at Meredith, seeming to weigh what to tell her. "He kissed me," she confesses after a minute, but then her frown deepens. "Or maybe I kissed him. I don't know which way, but it happened."

"And that's…. a bad thing?" Meredith guesses, not really getting it. She'd once been leery of Alek, concerned he was a bit too suave and far too familiar with her daughter. Now that she knows him better, though, Meredith's confident that Alek truly cares about Chloe, and that's all she's ever really wanted in a boyfriend for her daughter.

Frustration is evident in Chloe's features and she sighs, not immediately responding. "Yeah," she says finally. "I think it is."

She doesn't elaborate, and Meredith only briefly considers leaving it at that. She's been biting her tongue too much with Chloe lately. There's a delicate line between being a mother and a friend, and Meredith's not sure she's on the right side of it anymore. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Chloe hesitates, and when she looks at Meredith again, her gaze is intense, like she's judging whether to share. "It's complicated," she says finally, shrugging slightly. "With what happened to Brian, I just _can't._"

Meredith gets it. She doesn't necessarily agree, and she doesn't like that Chloe still seems to carry guilt with her, but she understands. It's never easy to move on, but it's damn near impossible to let yourself love again after a death. She's experienced it firsthand, thinking John was dead. Every time she felt ready to move on, she hadn't been expecting the guilt of her own happiness to be such a sucker punch to the gut. "Did you tell Alek that?" she asks, because even if he can't understand, an explanation will go a long way to healing whatever rift exists between them now.

Chloe shakes her head. "He doesn't see it the same way." Meredith waits for her to continue, but nothing comes. After a lengthy silence, Chloe glances over, frowning as she realizes Meredith is waiting for her to elaborate, and shrugs. "I'm just – I guess I'm not ready to talk about it, yet."

Meredith tries not to take it personally, but she fails miserably. She knows, logically, that these steps toward independence are a _good_ thing, proof she's preparing her daughter for adulthood. It doesn't make her miss the days when Chloe confided everything in her any less, though. It's kind of ironic, really, because Meredith hadn't realized then what she had, too worried about the future to appreciate Chloe's gushing over crushes.

Chloe seems to catch onto Meredith's thoughts and offers her a tentative and apologetic smile. "You'll be the first person I talk to when I'm ready, though."

Meredith still has a faux autopsy to get ready for, so she takes Chloe's words at face value and leans over, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "If you need me, I'm only a phone call away."

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

It's a Thursday night about a week and a half after her conversation with Chloe that Meredith first realizes just how massive her conflict of interest is. It's more likely than not that any fledgling relationship between Chloe and Alek won't work out, given their age, and Meredith realizes she's between a rock and a hard place before they even start dating.

"I don't think you're being fair to him," Meredith tells Chloe over dinner, unable to ignore the elephant in the room any longer. She's made English muffin pizzas for dinner, something that's become a staple of Thursday nights because of Alek, and it's odd not to have him sitting here with them.

Half the fun of Thursday night dinners is watching Alek experiment with his pizza, adding foods no one else would even consider to be toppings. It's not like Meredith didn't notice the frown on Chloe's face when she pulled the pizza from the oven to reveal four circles decorated only in sauce and cheese, and it's not like it wasn't mirrored on her own face.

But Chloe's unwilling to talk about it, and when she pulls out her pout, Meredith knows this isn't going to go well. "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Chloe accuses, "Because it kind of sounds like you're on _his._"

"I'm always on your side," Meredith responds automatically, but falls silent when she realizes it isn't entirely true. Part of the problem with viewing Alek like a son is that she's always on his side now, too, and she's not sure how to be on both their sides at once.

Chloe just continues to pout at her, but that's always worked more effectively on Meredith than anything Chloe can say, anyway. Meredith's suddenly nostalgic for the days when she could tell Chloe her face would freeze like that, and Chloe would believe her.

"Honey, I'm never actually _against_ you," Meredith amends, trying to find a way to smooth things over with Chloe without actually backing down. "All I want is for you to be happy, though, and I think you're cutting off your nose to spite your face." When Chloe doesn't respond, Meredith adds, "I don't think there's some inherent conflict in wanting to see Alek happy, too, when it seems like the same thing will make both of you happy."

"I think I liked it better when you didn't like him," Chloe tells her, but loses the pout.

Meredith frowns at that, a little ashamed of some of the assumptions she had made about Alek. What she now recognizes as a genuine affection and concern for Chloe's wellbeing had initially come off like obsession, and maybe Meredith had been a bit overprotective to interpret it the way she had. But when a teenage boy with an obvious crush on her daughter kept appearing out of nowhere, often to Chloe's annoyance, assuming he was stalking her had been a natural leap. "That was before I got to know him," she tells Chloe softly, "And before I realized how much we have in common."

Chloe laughs at that, disbelieving. "Mom, going to one of his basketball games doesn't change the fact that you _hate_ basketball, and believe me, that's the most likely thing you could have in common with Alek."

Meredith's thrown off by how confident Chloe sounds, and considers all the things she still doesn't know about Alek. As sure as she is that Alek is a good person, she knows precious little about his background, and it's not like she hasn't noticed that he has secrets he protects. "We have the most important thing in the world in common," she tells Chloe, because she knows that much is true. "You."

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

When Karen arrives for Friday night dinner, her husband and son are in tow, but Alek's not. "He said he had something to do, but he'd try to make it for dessert," Karen tells her when Meredith glances past her and out the door.

"Sounds like Alek," Meredith forces a smile, leading her guests into the house. "How's he doing? I haven't seen much of him lately." She's called him a couple times, because she doesn't want him to think her support is conditional on Chloe's moods, but those conversations have been brief and awkward.

Karen exchanges a look with her husband and gives Meredith a small shrug. "Okay. School's keeping him busy, I think. I'm just not sure if it's that he has a lot of schoolwork to do so he's busy, or he wants to be busy so he does a lot of schoolwork, you know?"

Meredith nods, and excuses herself long enough to go shout for Chloe from the bottom of the stairs. Chloe takes her time before joining them, and when she finally makes an appearance, Meredith raises her brows. Chloe's hair is carefully styled and her face made up with lip gloss and mascara, looking ready for a night out instead of a dinner at home. Meredith's fairly certain that if Chloe's trying to fool someone, it's only working on herself.

"Alek won't be able to make it for dinner," Meredith tests her, scrutinizing Chloe's reaction.

Chloe blinks, and looks disappointed for a brief second, but then holds her head up high and says, "Good. I didn't want to see him anyhow."

Meredith barely manages not to roll her eyes at that, since she highly doubts Chloe got all dressed up to impress Karen and Todd, and Greg's a pretty immature fifteen. "He might be by for dessert, though," Meredith adds idly, as if it's an afterthought.

Chloe stiffens, almost imperceptibly, but Meredith knows her daughter. "That's fine, too."

"Uh-huh." This time Meredith does roll her eyes, although she waits until Chloe's back is turned. "Can you go ask Karen and her family what they want to drink while I check on the roast?"

Meredith's relieved and a little surprised when Chloe's perfectly friendly through dinner, entertaining Karen's family with a story about Paul getting lost on some field trip a couple years earlier. Everyone's laughing and having a great time when Alek shows up.

He stands just outside the room awkwardly, an outsider looking in, and lifts a hand in a wave. "Hey."

Greg perks up at Alek's arrival. "I saved you a seat," he announces, and Meredith and Karen exchange an amused look because it's not like there was going to be a run on chairs.

Alek thanks him, and slides into the seat, glancing over at Chloe. Meredith does the same, taking in Chloe's suddenly steely expression and pale skin, and wonders what the hell she missed. Chloe was upset before today, sure, but not to this degree.

It's like there's a sudden frost in the room, and everyone notices except Greg, who is yammering on about some pickup game of HORSE the other day. He falls silent after a minute, though, realizing no one's bothering to reply, and glances around the table.

It's growing uncomfortable for everyone, so Meredith forces a cheery smile and starts to climb to her feet. "I was just about to go get dessert, Alek. It's like you have a sixth sense."

Alek looks up at her and smiles slightly. It's a bit unnerving how easily he can slip into roles, often bordering on glibness in his easily delivered lies. "Or just a good nose for your blueberry crumble."

The whole time Meredith is in the kitchen getting the crumble, she can hear Karen and Todd awkwardly discussing how good dinner was, obviously just trying to fill the suddenly tense silence.

Once the food's out, it's largely used as an excuse not to talk, everyone's mouths too full. Greg breaks the silence after a few minutes, asking Alek, "By the way, how'd that thing you had to do go?" He's grinning knowingly, and something about the question and Greg's expression catches Meredith's attention.

Alek stares at Greg for a minute, like he can't believe he actually asked that. "It went well," he says, and his voice sounds funny, and Meredith's even more confused now.

Chloe's spoon clatters to her plate as she pushes her chair out. "_Its_ name is Katie."

And oh, things suddenly make so much more sense. That's all Meredith has time to think before all hell breaks loose, though, Chloe bolting out of her chair and leaving the room as Alek makes excuses and Greg continues to pry for details of Alek's afternoon. It takes Meredith a moment to realize Alek's excuses are for her benefit, and she tells him he doesn't need to bother.

It's definitely a conflict of interest, but Meredith can't really fault Alek. Chloe's rejected him and refused to so much as explain her decision, and even if Meredith hates to see her daughter hurting, she can't blame Alek for this one.

Besides, maybe a little jealousy will help Chloe come to her senses.

.

.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

The next morning, Alek comes over before Chloe's even woken up, looking like he didn't sleep a wink. Meredith invites him in and they talk as they cook, pancakes on one burner and bacon on another. Meredith's not all that surprised he's shown up, already having come to the conclusion that his thing with Katie is just a ploy. It worked, too, if the number of doors Chloe slammed the previous night is any indication.

Alek seems to think he owes Meredith an explanation, and after she realizes the direction their chat is heading in, she shakes her head and points out it's not her he's here to talk to.

When Chloe comes downstairs almost an hour later, she stops in her tracks upon seeing Alek and cringes. "Alek. Hi." She sounds embarrassed, and runs her hand through her hair in an attempt to smooth it.

Alek glances between Meredith and the dishes he's in the middle of washing, and Meredith shoos him away with assurances she'll finish them on her own. She doesn't even need to consider eavesdropping, because Chloe and Alek only make it into the next room before they begin to argue, and loudly at that.

"Don't even bother," Chloe starts, her tone one Meredith recognizes all too well. She usually hears it right before getting a door slammed in her face, because apparently it makes her a nag that Chloe can never clean up her room without a couple dozen reminders first. Apparently, it's Chloe's default when she's annoyed and frustrated.

Alek exhales loudly. "I don't even _owe_ you an explanation, but I came over anyway," he points out, and Meredith's not sure if he sounds more grudging or resigned.

The faucet drowns out Chloe's response as Meredith continues to do the dishes, but once she's turned the water off, Alek's insisting, "Nothing happened. I flirted a little with her in front of my friends, but we didn't actually do anything."

"Right. Because you've got such a great track record with girls, Alek. You're _so_ virtuous." Chloe's quiet for a minute, and then adds, sounding oddly distant, "It doesn't matter anyway. Doesn't make a difference. You can mess around with whoever you want, really, because you're single. I'm single. You don't have to get my permission, and-"

"She's not Mai, Chloe."

Silence, and then a soft, "Oh," from Chloe, and she's crumbling.

"And I knew that from the beginning," Alek continues, his voice dropping so low Meredith has to strain to hear. "I think that's why I chose her."

"Oh," is all Chloe's capable of saying, again, and Meredith's more confused than ever.

Meredith makes a face, and tries to translate the teenage boy speak to normal English. She's at a loss for how to explain how those four words – _she's not my, Chloe_ – hold so much power over her daughter. She mentally corrects it to _'she's not my Chloe,'_ even though there was a noticeable pause between the 'my' and 'Chloe,' because otherwise it really doesn't make sense.

It's sweet, she supposes, and awkwardly earnest. She can't help but be a little concerned about a teenage boy declaring possession of her daughter, though, even one she trusts as much as Alek. Just half a year ago, she'd have thought his words alarming, and she still does, but for a different reason.

It's like Alek and Chloe just skipped over the puppy love stage to a clingy dependence without actually being in a relationship, and that's not what she wanted for them at all.


	4. Do As I Say & Not As I Do

**Author's Note:** Guys, your reviews meant the world to me. I'm happy there's so many people enjoying this story, and it means a lot to have some of you guys making an effort to review when you normally wouldn't. I'm not the type to hold chapters hostage for reviews, but it still means a lot and brings a smile to my face each time someone takes _their_ time to review. A special thanks to those of you who wished me well in the storm; we made out pretty lucky at my house and had the power restored after a couple days, but the cleanup's been immense; there were trees down everywhere and some areas still don't have power back. Most importantly, as I'm sure you guys have heard, there's been a massive loss of life in this storm's wake, and I hope that any of you reading this who experienced Irene or are about to experience Lee are safe, warm, healthy, and you have power.

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

After their confrontation, things between Chloe and Alek seem to go back to normal, or as close to normal as is possible for those two. They both suffer from a cognitive dissonance that Meredith is convinced only teenagers are capable of, pretending they're just friends again even after Chloe's jealous outburst and Alek's apologies. But like before, their relationship straddles a line between friendship and something more, and the boundaries become less clear with time.

With each day that passes, Meredith becomes convinced that today's the day she'll come home to find Alek over, officially more boyfriend than friend to Chloe. She braces herself for it every single time she walks through the front door, puts on her stern mother face, and prepares to lecture them for taking advantage of being alone in an empty house.

One day, she walks into the kitchen and sees them standing a little too close together. Alek's back is pressed against the counter and Chloe's standing in front of him, a hand gingerly stroking his cheek. "Alright, I think it's time to add a new rule-" she starts, but breaks off mid-sentence when Alek turns at the sound of her voice.

He has a gash above his right eye, his nose is likely broken, and his cheek is black and blue. That hand of Chloe's that Meredith thought was stroking Alek's cheek is actually holding a bandage. "Oh my God," Meredith breathes, gaping.

A second later, she springs into action, managing to walk around the counter and reach him in less than a dozen steps. She brings one hand to his chin and the other to his forehead as she inspects his face, and glances at the bandages Chloe's put on the counter. "Chloe, go get me some hydrogen peroxide. We'll clean out this gash and get it bandaged up, and then we'll go to the emergency room so a doctor can look at Alek's nose."

Meredith fusses over Alek for a minute, trying to make sure there aren't any other wounds she needs to be aware of. "What happened to you?" she asks, purposefully after Chloe's left the room, because teenage boys can be funny about what they view as weakness sometimes, and she wants the truth.

Alek searches her eyes for a minute, and Meredith's sure she sees it in his expression; he wants to tell her something. But then the moment passes, and what he tells her is an obviously rehearsed lie. "Bust-up after basketball practice. Me and one of the guys didn't see eye to eye on what the word 'teamwork' means. _Ball hog._" He adds the last part under his breath, like he's still stewing over it, but Meredith knows better.

She surveys him for a minute, concerned and more than a little alarmed. She considers his previous lies and omissions, the mysterious job and the reference to his cousin dying in a car accident that surely would've garnered media attention had it actually happened. Maybe she'd been too quick to assume he wasn't involved in anything shady. She knows he's a good kid at heart, but any kid, without guidance, can slip down the wrong path all too easily. "Alek," she says, her tone urgent, "Nothing you tell me will make me think any less of you. I want to help you."

He averts his gaze and Meredith sighs. It seems like secrets just pile on top of secrets with these kids, and it's a dangerous game. She realizes she needs to get to the bottom of it for their own good, even if Chloe and Alek want to keep her out of the loop.

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Unsurprisingly, a trip to the emergency room proves to be an all night affair. It's a wakeup call for Meredith, too, since she spends half the evening arguing with doctors and billing about Alek's status. He's a minor without a proper legal guardian, they point out, so a social worker has to be called and there's a lot of hassle. Meredith calls Karen, who rushes down, but there's not much they can do beyond offering to pay his bills. It's funny how the hospital has no problem with Meredith paying his bills, but apparently allowing her to check in on Alek is out of the question.

After she's done arguing with a doctor, she gets to deal with the social worker, who insists that Alek's a ward of the state now and as such, can only be released into the state's custody. A doctor has already reset Alek's nose by the time Meredith convinces the social worker to at least let her break the news to Alek herself.

She hesitates outside the door to his room, though, when she notices Chloe at his bedside. They're talking in hushed tones, and she knows she shouldn't listen in, but her concerns for Alek's welfare still weigh on her mind.

"-think you should tell her," Alek's saying, sounding calm but tired.

Chloe's much more stressed when she responds. "You're the one who warned me not to. You said nothing would ever be the same, and brought up how your parents responded, and I can't risk that. I-"

"-have a mom who'd probably actually understand," Alek finishes for her, and lapses into silence for a second before continuing. "I said that before I knew your mom, Chloe. You should've heard her talking to me today. She thinks I'm messed up in something, maybe that we both are, and all she had to say about it was-"

He's interrupted as the social worker breezes into the room, apparently impatient with Meredith. "So how are you feeling, Mr. Petrov?" the social worker asks, sounding far too formal to be talking to a teenager.

Meredith rushes in after her, and Chloe and Alek exchange a panicked look, obviously concerned about how much Meredith overheard.

"Hey Alek," Meredith says, trying to sound as cheery as she can manage. She doesn't want to give the social worker a chance to keep talking. "I was just talking to Jessica-" She stops to indicate the social worker before continuing, "She was saying there's a bit of an issue with your release, but I'm going to get it sorted out as soon as possible. Since your aunt was never changed as your legal guardian, though, you're going to have to leave with Jessica tonight."

Alek's face falls but he recovers quickly, and nods. Chloe, on the other hand, looks torn between tears and rage. "Okay," he says, and seeing Chloe's face, reaches out and squeezes her hand. "I'll be fine."

Jessica glances between Alek and Chloe and Meredith, and speaks up. "I'm going to need to ask Alek some questions now before he's discharged. Alone," she adds the last part pointedly, gesturing toward the door.

Chloe looks like she might deck the social worker, so Meredith grabs her hand and tugs her toward the door, waving to Alek. "We'll call in a little bit, okay? And anything you need, just let us know."

The walk back to the car is long, and Chloe's anger bubbles over on the way. "I can't _believe_ it," she complains, her voice rising about an octave, "Who does that woman think she is?"

"She's just looking out for Alek's best interests," Meredith tells her, even though she was asking Karen the same question just an hour earlier. She's distracted, though, thinking about that conversation she overheard between Alek and Chloe. "She has to be cautious. She doesn't know us."

"We have to fix this," Chloe half demands, half begs. "He's already had enough go wrong without ending up in foster care."

They're in crisis mode right now, though, and there will be time to confront Chloe about the conversation later. Meredith nods, reaching out and wrapping an arm around Chloe, bumping hips as they walk back to the car. "I know, honey. I'll try to sort it out first thing in the morning."

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Sorting it out proves to be a lot easier said than done. Meredith speaks to a lawyer friend the next morning, and tells him the whole story.

"It sounds like the adoptive parents set it up so the aunt received guardianship," he summarizes, making a face that doesn't suggest anything good. "Do you know where they are? Because the aunt's guardianship obviously died with her, so the parents are responsible for the boy again."

Meredith's fairly confident that _'somewhere in England'_ isn't the sort of answer he – or the courts – will be looking for. "I can find out," she offers instead, and sets out to do just that.

When she calls Alek, his reaction leaves her confused. He has as much an interest in resolving this as anyone, if not more so. But he seems to clam up when Meredith asks him about his parents. "Let me try to get in touch with them first," he suggests, and Meredith frowns.

No child deserves to hear that they're unwanted by their own parents, so she really doesn't want him to be the one to call. "I really don't mind," she insists, "If what you say about them is still the truth, it should be easy enough to get them to sign a few forms. And if it's not…. Well, maybe it's not too late to repair your relationship with them."

Alek's quiet for a minute, and Meredith starts to think the connection's dropped. Then she hears a dry laugh, and his voice again. "Some things you don't get over," he says. She's not sure if he's talking about himself or them.

"Maybe that's the case, but until it's resolved one way or the other, you're going to have to stay in a foster home," she points out with a sigh.

He's quiet for a minute, and when he speaks again, his voice sounds strained. "I'll give them a call."

It's not ideal, but Meredith can't really protest. She's concerned, though; it's the first time Meredith feels like Alek is purposefully keeping her at a distance; he's evaded sharing details of his life with her before, sure, but this is something more. It's like he has something to hide, and he doesn't want to risk her talking to his parents and finding out.

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Technically, nothing's supposed to move forward until she's heard from Alek's parents. That's how these things work legally, her lawyer friend tells her, but he recommends a lawyer for the case and puts in a call to a guy in Children and Family Services who owes him a favor.

Meredith meets with the guy from Child Welfare the next day, and the information she receives is a bit overwhelming. There's no way to predict how long a petition for guardianship will take to go through the courts, she's told, and even if all the T's are crossed and I's dotted, it all depends on how full the judge's docket is.

The only real way to guarantee that things move quickly is if the potential guardians are related to the child, and that's impossible in Alek's case. He'll need to live with his guardian, and have his own bedroom. The guardians will have to be evaluated, and so will their home. There will be a lot of interviews – with the prospective guardian, with the minor child, potentially even with any other child living in the home old enough to be interviewed. They'd even like to interview Alek's adoptive parents, if that's possible.

Meredith is overwhelmed, but knows three things. First, that this is too much to put on Karen's shoulders. Second, there's not a doubt in her mind that she's willing to fight this battle for Alek, regardless of how messy having him and Chloe under one roof could turn out. And lastly, that it's time to move all of John's stuff out of the attic, and to let all of those memories go.

She comes home early that day, aware she has a lot to discuss with Chloe and even more to think about. Alek's over when she returns home, too, so her bites her tongue and busies herself by preparing dinner. As much as Alek's become like a son to her, she knows she needs to talk to Chloe one-on-one about some of this, especially her plans to clean out the attic and turn it into another bedroom. She can't help but think of how Chloe seemed perfectly at peace with the plan to have John declared dead, but the second there was even a chance of her dad returning to her life, Chloe was that five year old girl again, hurt and hopeful and confused all at once as she waited by the door for her daddy to come home. She could've paid with her life.

Alek and Chloe are in the living room, speaking in hushed tones, and Meredith can't really make out much of what they're saying. She hears every few words, enough to tell her they seem to have picked up their conversation from the hospital the previous night, and thrown in some references to Alek's parents in England as well.

"-going to find out anyway, Chloe, as soon as she talks to them," Alek says in one string Meredith can actually make out, and she can't help it; she lurks by the door.

It's not often she can't even guess what's going on in Chloe's life. She's been much more secretive for the past several months, though, and Meredith's already had a handful of false explanations for that. It's clearly not just about the email exchanges with whoever was posing as Chloe's dad, either. A frown etched across her face, Meredith realizes there's a _lot_ she's going to need to talk to Chloe about.

"-don't want her to-" is all Meredith can make out from Chloe's reply.

A timer sounds then and the sauce is finished, so Meredith temporarily dismisses her concerns to focus on getting the food served and kids fed.

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Dinner is an oddly quiet affair. There's an obvious tension between the two teens, and more than that, fear seems to radiate off of Chloe. It's strange, though, almost like Chloe's afraid of _her_, and that doesn't make any sense.

She asks Chloe about it after Alek leaves, under a strict curfew as long as he's a ward of the state, and Chloe bristles. "I don't know what you're talking about," she answers a little too quickly, sounding a little too on edge.

Chloe's never been a believable liar, and Meredith frowns. "I need to know what's going on with you, Chloe. I'm not sure if it's just that there's so much going on with _us,_ and with Alek, and that's why you're acting like this, or-"

"Acting like _what?_" Chloe interrupts, brows furrowed. "I'm just worried about Alek, Mom. I swear. You know they already placed him in a foster home? His real parents wanted him but they died, and everyone since has just disappointed him. If you count you and Karen, this is gonna be the sixth set of parents he's had. And when I looked it up on the internet, it said a lot of teenagers don't last long in a foster home and have to move to another."

"Oh, Chloe…" Meredith sighs, trying not to take offense to the 'real parent' comment, and cocks her head toward the living room, a silent invitation to come sit down. Chloe follows her into the room and they sit down on the couch. Chloe sits sideways, one leg tucked under her butt, and waits for Meredith to continue. "That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I talked to a friend in family law, and he referred me to someone with Child Welfare Services to get a start, but…. I wanted to ask you if you were okay with it before I go any further."

Chloe's interest is piqued, and she leans forward a bit, looking hopeful and confused. "With what?"

"Alek still has another year before he turns eighteen, and as far as the state's concerned, that means he can't be on his own and he can't really choose where to stay," Meredith tells her. "They don't know us from that creepy cat lady down the street, and they think they're acting in Alek's best interests."

Chloe rolls her eyes, just the reference to the state enough to send her into a foul mood. "It's bullshit, Mom. They act like they know what Alek needs better than we do, and we actually _know_ him."

Meredith shakes her head and offers Chloe a small smile, but still warns, "Language, Chloe." She's quiet for a minute, and then continues, "But that's sort of what I'm getting at. We need to prove to the state that we _do_ know him, and we have his best interests at heart. I already sort of talked to Alek about it because I needed his parents' contact information-" She breaks off, raising an eyebrow at the way Chloe shifts uncomfortably, before continuing, "But I really wanted to talk to you, and make sure you're okay with it. I'm _your_ mom, and this is your house, too, and I know it would be a little weird."

Chloe's eyes light up with understanding, but she masks it quickly, reluctant to hope. "What are you saying?" she asks, demanding clarification.

"I want to petition for guardianship of Alek," Meredith states simply, searching Chloe's gaze for any hint of reaction. "I want to give him that stability."

A grin spreads across Chloe's face and she launches forward, practically tackling Meredith in a hug. Meredith takes that as a good sign.

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Of course, gaining Chloe's approval doesn't mean everything is automatically settled. Meredith's aware of this, so she invites Alek over the next afternoon to have a chance to talk to him. He'd probably have been over anyway, but extending the invitation makes it clear she's serious, so when she sits both Alek and Chloe down for a conversation after dinner the next night, she can see the curiosity on his face before she explains.

He's hesitant at first, and there's a brief awkward moment where she thinks she misread his gratitude for something more, but then she realizes his concerns seem to be largely financial. "You've already been extremely generous," he says uncomfortably, glancing between Meredith and Chloe. "I don't want to take advantage of that anymore than I already have."

Meredith smiles, relieved that that's his major concern, and shakes her head. "The money really isn't an issue," she tells him, and it's pretty much true. Alek's not exactly a big spender, and Chloe's expenses dwarf his. "And if money is tight, I won't hide it from you guys. But really, buying a little extra food or replacing a couple ripped shirts is _nothing._" Alek looks dubious, so Meredith continues, tapping her fingers against her boots. "See these? They're Tory Burches. Which probably doesn't mean anything to you, I guess, but let's just say that if money suddenly gets tight, there's a lot of room for _me_ to improve before anything needs to change for you kids. Like not going window shopping when I know I'll buy something impulsively, anyway."

It's a bit misleading, she knows, since these boots were certainly an impulse buy but also a celebratory purchase. Marshalls is normally a bit more her speed than Nordstrom, but a recent promotion had caused her to splurge. Alek doesn't need to know that, though, because regardless of a technicality, it helps her prove that money's not really all that tight. He seems to buy it, and nods slowly, murmuring, "Okay. But I want to contribute."

She can live with that, so she nods, and introduces the next order of business. "We'll need to clear out the attic for you and refurnish it to be a bedroom, and I could use some help moving the big furniture later. I'll clean out and organize everything else on my own, though."

It's less generous than it sounds. The truth is that Meredith doesn't have a clue what reminders of Chloe's past are up there, and she's still not entirely sure how much Chloe remembers about her life before the adoption. Psychologists had warned her when Chloe was a child that the massacre was the sort of event Chloe would probably remember, even though she'd been so young, because trauma had a way of etching itself into the brain.

"Wouldn't it go faster if we all worked on it together?" Choe asks, and Meredith tries not to think about how eager her daughter sounds to have Alek sleeping right above her. Meredith's sure the whole arrangement will cause her plenty of sleepless nights, but she doesn't see another way.

"Nope," she tells Chloe, perhaps a little too quickly. She'd made sure to discuss cleaning out John's stuff one-on-one with Chloe the previous night, but they hadn't really gotten into the details. "I'd have to sort through everything anyway to see what we'll keep, either way."

It's only after Meredith starts the task that she realizes it's a bit hypocritical, trying to shelter Chloe from secrets that are rightfully hers while wanting to know the ones Chloe already possesses. But that's part of being a parent, Meredith figures, wanting your child to do as you say but not as you've done.


	5. First Meetings & Motions

**Author's Note:** Thank you guys so much for your reviews! I know a lot of you are looking forward to Meredith finding out the full truth, and I can promise you it's coming up. I was just working on those scenes last night, and those revelations will sort of span chapters six & seven. I'm hesitant to spoil my own stories, but I'm also cognizant of it stretching on uncomfortably now and I don't want you guys to think I'm just teasing you with the occasional step forward just to yank any progress back. The reality is that this is the sort of secret Meredith can't simply discover on her own because she doesn't have the right set of background knowledge; she doesn't even know that there's a race so similar to humans that exists, so it's not like she can easily attribute Chloe's strange behavior to that, you know? So it's an organic process until something breaks or forces Chloe's hand and... well, this is the chapter that sets all of that in motion, and I think you'll see why!

Thanks again for continuing to read and supporting my story, and I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

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Meredith has so many questions for Alek's parents. It just doesn't make sense to her, how anyone can abandon their child the way they did Alek. She understands that some people simply aren't made to be parents, but those also aren't usually the people who adopt.

She's been through it herself, and she knows what a difficult and time-consuming process adoption is. While it might be a bit different in England, she's confident that both nations put the best interests of the child first, so the process can't be all that different. It stretches out over months, and sometimes years, and there's always a risk of setback and having your heart broken. Adoptive parents invite strangers into their homes to judge them, open up everything from their bedrooms to their bank accounts for scrutiny. They're automatically on the defensive, put in a position where they need to prove they're even worthy of being considered.

Adoption isn't something you do because it seems trendy or because you think it makes you look good. Adoption is the path you choose when you can't imagine _not_ being a parent, and even the prospect of being up all night with a sick child excites you, because there's no place you'd rather be.

Adoptive parents don't approach parenthood expecting it to be easy, because even just getting there is a journey.

It appears like Meredith will have a chance to ask her questions, though, when she gets word from her lawyer shortly before Thanksgiving that Alek's parents have agreed to travel to San Francisco to settle things.

She doesn't tell Chloe or Alek, deterred by how strangely they reacted to her attempts to get in touch with his parents in the first place, and arranges a meeting at a bistro near the airport.

She's expecting a couple more like the parents from _Matilda_ than _Leave it to Beaver_, so she's incredibly surprised by the couple standing in front of her. Helen Lewis is a diminutive woman who stands at barely five feet tall, with pale skin, glasses, and mousy brown hair. Her husband, Peter, towers over her but isn't at all intimidating in his khakis and sweater vest.

"We didn't even know Valentina had passed," Helen tells Meredith after they've exchanged greetings and introductions, running her fingers anxiously over the edge of her menu. "And Alek – he's okay?"

The concern is evident in Helen's voice and it throws Meredith off. She nods slowly. "He's doing well. He's recovering from a broken nose, though, because of a fight after basketball practice." She knows it's a lie, and yet she repeats it anyway, not even sure why.

Helen and Peter exchange a look, and Meredith's not sure what to make of it. The silence stretches on, and when Helen speaks again, she sounds almost pleading. "It's not that we don't love him, I hope you understand. We just weren't equipped to be parents to him, after the changes."

Meredith frowns at that, finding it to be a pretty lame excuse. From what she understands, Alek came to California at the start of high school, and it hardly could've been a surprise that a thirteen or fourteen year old boy would undergo changes. It was a pretty clear indication that they weren't bright enough to be parents if they didn't know puberty existed. "I don't really understand," she admits, trying to keep her tone civil, because having these people on her side for the petition will make the whole process a lot easier. She wants to yell at them, to tell them all about what a great kid Alek is, but she refrains. "Did you always expect him to be a little boy?"

Peter frowns, apparently taking offense to that, anyway. "It's not that simple. We thought we knew what we were getting into, researched what conditions were like in Russia and the Ukraine and all those former satellite countries so we'd have a good idea of what his life was like. We were equipped for trouble; we knew he might have problems because of everything that happened to him when he was so young, but…" He trails off, and glances at his wife.

"We have two younger kids," Helen tells her, as if that's somehow an excuse. When she realizes Meredith isn't coming around, she adds, "Your daughter - she's one of them, right?"

"Chloe," Meredith supplies, and nods. She's not sure how they guessed Chloe was born in the Ukraine, but she doesn't get how that's supposed to make her understand. It's not like the conditions of Chloe's formative years are lost on her; given the massacre, she always anticipated there'd be emotional problems, and she knows she's lucky that there haven't been, and that Chloe doesn't remember. "And yes, but I always knew there could be issues. I never thought there should be some kind of return policy, if my daughter wound up damaged goods." She can't quite bite back the accusation this time, too fed up to care.

"You're lucky, then," Peter tells her, shaking his head. "These kids, they're…." He trails off, and Meredith thinks the way he says 'kids' sounds off. "They're _monsters._ We couldn't just sit around waiting for Alek to lose control. We had to think of our other kids. The youngest was only five then."

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After their talk, Meredith is too upset to go home. It's a mixture of anger and sadness and indignation, and she's worried that if she goes right home, she won't be able to hide her emotions from Chloe and Alek. She's just stunned, really, at the nerve of his parents. From their explanation, it sounds like Alek was experiencing some sort of post-traumatic stress, and their reaction was to kick him out? It's unbelievable.

She drives around for a while, and finds herself parked outside the law offices of Adler & Koenig. She doesn't have an appointment, obviously, and she's only recently hired her lawyer. He's a partner at the firm, so almost surely busy, but she goes in anyway.

"I need to see Evan Koenig," she tells the receptionist, sounding incredibly frustrated.

"I think he's in a meeting," the receptionist starts to say, not glancing up from her computer. When Meredith doesn't move away, she glances up and frowns. "I'll see what I can do."

The receptionist reappears a few minutes later with a man who appears to be younger than Meredith, so she's dubious when he introduces himself as Evan Koenig. He's not at all what she imagines a lawyer to look like; he looks like he belongs in a gym instead of pouring over case law, and it looks like it's been a few days since his last shave. He wears glasses, but they don't manage to make him look any older. She's only spoken to her lawyer on the phone, though, and dealt face to face with his equally young staff, so she hesitates to call them on what she initially assumes is some juvenile scheme

"I'm Meredith King," she introduces herself, still halfway convinced that the man standing in front of her actually works in the mailroom and this is just the receptionist's way of getting rid of her.

Warm eyes light up with recognition. "Ah, the guardianship case," he acknowledges, and okay, maybe he isn't the mail guy. "Here, come with me to my office."

Meredith follows him down a long hallway to the biggest corner office she's ever seen. She steps inside, admiring the view of the Embarcadero from his windows. Evan sits down at his desk, rifling through a stack of papers on top of it. There's a gym bag on the chair opposite his desk, so Meredith stands awkwardly next to it.

Evan glances up after a minute and grimaces when he notices the gym bag. "Oh, sorry, you can just put it on the floor." He seems to think better of it a second later and leans over the desk to grab it himself. "Sweaty," he explains with a shrug, which isn't exactly an enticement for Meredith to sit, but she does so anyway.

"So, don't take this the wrong way," Meredith starts, even though she's warned Chloe a hundred times that any sentence that starts with that sort of disclaimer just shouldn't be uttered aloud in the first place, "But you look _really_ young to be a lawyer. And maybe a little too pretty, too."

He grins, either because of what she's said or because he's found the papers he was looking for, and leans back in his chair. "I've heard worse. And I'm older than I look."

"And how old is that, exactly?" It's a bit rude, she knows, but this is the man she's trusting to keep Alek out of foster homes and away from his awful parents.

"Do I look, or how old am I actually?" he retorts immediately, and shrugs. "I'm 32. You asked exactly, so I can tell you I'll be 33 on Christmas Day. Put a crimp in my mom's plans right from the start."

And dear God, that's young.

Evan seems to read her mind because he continues quickly, "I can assure you I earned this office, though. It's not nepotism or anything like that. I graduated first in my class from Harvard Law, made a lot of money for a law firm in Boston, then moved out here." He gestures to the wall of degrees and accolades behind him, as if she'll need proof of what he's saying.

Feeling a little guilty for challenging him like that, Meredith bites her lower lip. "I'm sorry. It's just nerves. I met Alek's parents today and, well, let me just say it's more important than ever that I win this case." She glances around the office, gazing finding the framed photos hanging from the walls instead of the degrees. Most are of some far off landmark, an exotic animal, or someone's expressive face. They're from all over the world, and she wonders how Evan's even had time to experience so much.

He follows her gaze to a photo of a yawning lion somewhere in the deserts of Africa and smiles. "You ever been?" When she shakes her head, he adds, "Me neither. My little brother's the world traveler; he's a photographer for the _National Geographic._" Refocusing, he pushes the papers he'd found across the table and tells her, "These are the forms we're going to fill out. I was going to call you tomorrow to schedule an appointment, but you're already here, and it's close enough to my lunch break anyway."

The pile of papers in front of her is overwhelming. She leafs through Form GC-210 before looking up at Evan and shaking her head. "I thought I've seen a lot of red tape, working in real estate."

He taps a spot about halfway down the first page. "A lot of this is geared more toward guardianship of the estate than of the person, so you don't actually have to worry about all that fiduciary stuff. But really, that's what I'm here for. Filling out all the pain in the ass paperwork."

Meredith smiles at that, and sifts through the rest of the paperwork, relieved she doesn't have to figure it out on her own.

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They spend nearly an hour filling out the paperwork. He's mostly quiet, filling out the bulk of it without even having to think about it, but glances up at Meredith with the occasional question. "It's Alek-with-a-K, right? And what's his birthdate?"

She'll nod, and recite from memory, "June 13th, 1994."

He fills that in, and then hands her another of the forms. In big, bold letters, it reads "CONFIDENTIAL" across the top, and is labeled GC-212. Evan's already filled in the contact information and Superior Court address, and leaves her to fill out the rest. It's kind of like a really nosy job application, with nearly twenty questions asking about the criminal history, alcohol and drug dependency, and financial security of everyone living in her home.

She's just finishing up checking all those little boxes when Evan speaks up again, turning the paper he's working on so she can read the question. "Now I just need to hear, in your own words, why you think it's necessary or convenient for Alek to have you as a guardian."

Meredith hesitates, not really sure what kind of answer the courts are looking for. "I can provide him with a better life than his parents can, or are willing to?" she tries.

Evan shakes his head. "That's subjective. _I _believe you, but you don't want to have to offer proof of that in a hearing. Just speak from the heart. Why is it important to you to take care of Alek, and why is it important to him to have you in his life?"

"He's a kid," she says simply, staring down at her hands, "and he might not always see himself that way, but it's still the adult's responsibility to _let_ a kid be a kid. Alek's done a lot to help our family, and in the process, he's become a part of it. His parents live five thousand miles away, and they can't parent from that kind of distance. His moving back to England isn't really an option, either, since his parents don't _want_ to parent him. And I do. I enjoy having him over, and he enjoys being over. I'm already teaching him how to cook, and my daughter's been helping him with his schoolwork, and everyone deserves that kind of support system. _Especially_ a kid."

When she glances up, Evan's scribbling furiously as he tries to capture what she's said on the form. He smiles at her a minute later, and offers her yet another form. "I don't foresee any problems," he tells her, "But if you can get Alek's parents to sign this form, consenting to your guardianship petition and waiving notice, we could have this entire thing resolved before Christmas."

She grins and thanks him, getting up to leave. On her way out the door, though, she pauses, a thought occurring to her. "If you're some hotshot lawyer, why'd you take my case? You know I can't afford to pay you some exorbitant fee."

Evan shrugs, and reaches for a photo on his desk. He turns it around and holds it up for her to see. Evan's younger in the picture, between two other boys about his age, and an older couple stands behind them. It looks like any family photo, but the older couple are too fair to have given Evan his coloring, and one of Evan's brothers is black. "Cindy Koenig was _my_ Meredith King," he tells her simply, "and no one knows as well as I do how huge an impact you'll have on this boy's life."

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Meredith's greeted by grunts and gunfire upon returning home. She isn't alarmed, though, because it doesn't seem very likely there's an actual automatic weapon in her living roo. Plus, Alek's sitting on top of a kitchen counter, listening to Chloe's iPod, and she's fairly certain he wouldn't be so calm if there was a threat in the house. The music must be loud, because he doesn't hear her come in, and he's normally very alert.

She sets down her jacket and purse before waving a hand in front of Alek's face to get his attention. He doesn't remove the earbuds but glances up, and gestures toward the living room. "Greg came over with his xBox, and Chloe's apparently learning to love _Call of Duty._"

It's not all that surprising to Meredith, since Chloe's the kind of kid who will try anything once, but she would've expected Alek to join them. "Not a fan of xBox?" she asks, but Alek just looks confused. He takes out an earbud, stiffening as the sounds from the living room flood his senses, and Meredith repeats her question.

"Not a fan of guns." He sounds on edge, and as one of the kids unloads their magazine in the next room over, he flinches.

Meredith frowns, considering his parents' vague comments about how troubled his early years had been. "Do you want to come for a ride with me?" she asks impulsively. "I figured we'd do Chinese food tonight." She'd really been planning on pasta, but suddenly takeout seems like a better idea, for the built-in excuse of getting Alek out of the house.

He nods, a little too quickly, and then seems to think of something. "I should tell Chloe, though," he tells her, sounding oddly hesitant about leaving Chloe behind. Meredith knows those two are attached at the hip, but sometimes it seems like Alek thinks it's his job to be around her.

"I'll tell her," she says quickly, and Alek agrees easily. He flinches again as another round of gunfire seems to reverberate around the house, and Meredith frowns, pulling her keys out of her purse. "Can you go turn my car on for me? It's chilly, so having the heat on would be nice."

She watches him practically race from the room and sighs. It's the first time she's seen Alek so visibly shaken, and Meredith has a sick feeling in her stomach because she thinks she knows why. "Chloe!" she shouts over the sounds of the game, poking her head into the living room. She gives Greg a small smile and a hello after he's paused the game. "I'm gonna run out to pick up Chinese with Alek. You guys work out what you want and text me in the next few minutes, alright?"

.

.

Meredith calls in the order, tacking on an extra box of chicken fingers and beef teriyaki each, because she's feeding two teenage boys tonight. It will be a forty-five minute wait so she parks down by the Embarcadero and suggests they go for a walk. She figures Alek's more likely to talk to her if he doesn't feel trapped. They're quiet for the first few minutes, but then Meredith points down Washington Street and tells him, "That's where my lawyer works. Our lawyer, I guess." When Alek glances down the street but doesn't say anything, she presses, "I went to see him today, and he was asking me why I thought it would be a good thing for you to be under my guardianship. And I had my answer, but it occurred to me that _we_ hadn't really talked about it much, one on one."

Alek stops suddenly, mid-step, and stares at Meredith. "I don't have any problems with the petition. You know that?" His inflection makes it sound like a question, but Meredith's not sure he meant it to be.

She nods anyway. "Yeah, yeah, of course I do." She pauses, glancing out at the bay. "That wasn't really what I meant to ask you. I guess my question's more why than if."

He mulls it over for a couple minutes, the sounds of a San Francisco night keeping the silence from growing awkward. "I'm not really sure," he tells her after a minute, sounding uncomfortable. "I do want it, though. I just don't know how to put that into words."

"Hmm." She's not really satisfied with the answer, but she doesn't want him to feed her some bullshit just to make her happy, either. Truthfully, coming from Alek, it almost means more that he _doesn't_ have some perfect, prepared answer. "It's not just because of Chloe, right?" It's prying, but she has to ask. She knows some people will judge her for moving Alek in, make assumptions about how lax her parenting style is because she's allowing her daughter's boyfriend to move in. Only they aren't really dating, and Alek's role in their lives is much more significant than 'Chloe's boyfriend' now, anyway. She knows the risks; she knows they're teenagers and their hormones are out of control, and she knows she's making it all too easy for them to get too serious, too intimate, too quickly. But maybe her parenting style _is_ lax, because she's also convinced that if something is going to happen between Alek and Chloe, it will happen regardless of where they're living. And besides, as far as she's concerned, not helping a child in need would be a much clearer indictment on her parenting.

"No." It comes out fast, but not so fast that Meredith worries he's being disingenuous. She's getting better at identifying Alek's lies. "I'm not going to lie. I like being around her, but that's not why I like the idea." They keep walking, but he stops talking, so Meredith thinks the conversation is over. Then, when they turn to head back to the car, Alek adds, "It's more you than her, really. I mean, Valentina was really good to me. Better than she was with Jasmine, really. But she didn't cook."

Meredith smiles. She knows it's not always easy for teenagers, especially boys, to open up, so that statement is huge. Alek's especially guarded, likely because of how many times he's been disappointed, and it means the world to Meredith that he trusts her enough to show any emotion even vaguely resembling vulnerability.

.

.

When they reach the car, Meredith's thinking about that video game and Alek's reaction to it. It's not something she particularly wants to push, but she knows she has to, and that she's let these kids off too easy by only discussing one difficult topic at a time. It's not her job to be his friend; it's her job to keep him safe and healthy and happy. Sometimes, that includes asking uncomfortable questions. "Alek, what happened to your biological parents?"

It takes him by surprise, and his whole body goes rigid as he looks at her. "What?"

He understood the question perfectly fine, she knows, but Meredith clarifies anyway. "Given the petition, it seems like the sort of thing I should know about. I _want_ to know about it."

Alek opens the door to the car and slides into the passenger seat without a word. Meredith sighs, and leans against the driver's side door, mumbling a prayer under her breath to whomever might be listening to help her be there for Alek.

It's a strange thing, when she climbs into the car, because Alek's looking at her with far more understanding than a teenager should be capable of. It's almost like he heard her prayer, but she dismisses the thought quickly, because through a door and under her breath, that would be impossible. "They were murdered, my parents," he tells her quietly. "I don't normally talk about it."

She rests her hands on the steering wheel but doesn't start the car, taking a minute to absorb this. She'd already reached that conclusion, but it's still weightier coming from him.

He continues after a minute, staring out the windshield as he speaks. "My dad was a Russian journalist, and some people in power didn't like what he had to say. They were afraid he had too much influence, and they wanted to stop him before…" He trails off suddenly, as if reconsidering what he was going to say.

Meredith's mind fills in the gaps with her own memories of that part of the world after the Soviet Union's collapse. There had been a handful of high profile assassinations, especially among the press and others who dared to speak out against the government. "Oh, Alek," she starts, and then frowns, thinking of how he'd tried to drown out the sounds of the game. "You were there." She knows it intuitively, beyond a doubt.

Alek continues to stare straight ahead but gives a subtle nod. Meredith squeezes her eyes shut, deflated.


End file.
